Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Advancing the neuroscience of human pregnancy

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Neuroscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

The study of the female brain during pregnancy and motherhood is gaining traction, and holds the potential to address the unmet needs of millions of women worldwide. Here we highlight the most pressing gaps in this field. Filling these knowledge gaps will require two paths forward: focused longitudinal studies that deeply characterize individuals, and collaborative initiatives that build large-scale international databases.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Recommended pathways to advance the field of neuroscience of human pregnancy.

References

  1. Jacobs, E. G. Nature 623, 667 (2023).

  2. Servin-Barthet, C. et al. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 24, 605–619 (2023).

  3. Hoekzema, E. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 20, 287–296 (2017).

  4. Hoekzema, E. et al. Nat. Commun. 13, 6931 (2022).

  5. Paternina-Die, M. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 27, 319–327 (2024).

  6. Pritschet, L., Taylor, C. M., Santander, T. & Jacobs, E. G. Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 40, 72–78 (2021).

  7. Barth, C. & de Lange, A. G. Front. Neuroendocrinol. 58, 100850 (2020).

  8. Ye, C. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 19, 330–337 (2024).

  9. Levin, G. & Ein-Dor, T. Transl. Psychiatry 13, 138 (2023).

  10. Pritschet, L. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.14.571688 (2023).

  11. Marek, S. et al. Nature 603, 654–660 (2022).

  12. Orchard, E. R., Rutherford, H. J. V., Holmes, A. J. & Jamadar, S. D. Trends Cogn. Sci. 27, 302–316 (2023).

  13. de Lange, A. G. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, 22341–22346 (2019).

  14. Heller, C. et al. Nature Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00224-2 (2024).

  15. Barth, C., Crestol, A., de Lange, A. G. & Galea, L. A. M. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 11, 926–941 (2023).

Download references

Acknowledgements

M.M.-G and E.G.J are supported by The Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative. A.-M.G.d.L. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P3_193658). S.C. is supported by a Miguel Servet Type II research contract (CPII21/00016), and co-funded by the European Social Fund ‘Investing in your future’.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Magdalena Martínez-García.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Martínez-García, M., Jacobs, E.G., de Lange, AM.G. et al. Advancing the neuroscience of human pregnancy. Nat Neurosci 27, 805–807 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01629-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01629-z

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

Navigation